Two CX Leaders Share Frameworks to Improve Customer-Centricity in Their Organization

As we continue to revisit conversations with CX leaders who were previously on the show, today we’re going to explore strategies implemented by two CX leaders at global corporations: Scott Allison, CCO at DHL Supply Chain and Jon Herstein, CCO at Box.

Both leaders share great tactics and strategies that they implemented when asked the question, “how did you first assess the work that needed to be done?” Considering they both work at established, global corporations with hundreds (and thousands) of employees, it’s interesting to see the scope of the work they chose to tackle.

Use Employee and Customer Feedback to Solidify Your Organization’s Values and Messaging

When Scott Allison of DHL first stepped into his CCO role, he approached the work by looking at the four aspects of customer experience below:

Internal Stakeholder management. Talk to your employees – not only those who report directly to you but to those who don’t as well. He searched for common threads in the responses to determine areas of improvement for him to focus on.

Understand customer perspectives. It was important for Scott to know what the customers thought was going well. In addition to focusing on things that needed to get fixed, Scott wanted to know how they could improve things that were already going well and make them better.

Improve brand messaging. Scott realized that DHL is a great business but didn’t believe that the company communicated it well enough. He wanted to ensure that DHL got its messaging right. Scott wanted to develop the business values and use them as a guide for creating a mission/purpose for employees, something that communicated the value of the business rather than what they actually do. 

Develop a customer-based strategy. With the desire to create a sense of purpose for employees and to improve brand messaging, Scott merged these two goals with a plan to focus on the company’s social media. They began training salespeople on social media in order to communicate brand success stories, to be more accessible to customers, to get feedback, and to further communicate DHL’s values. 

Search for common threads in feedback from customers and employees in order to determine areas of improvement in your CX journey. —Scott Allison, CCO @DHLUS Click To Tweet

Create a Framework to Attack Specific Areas of Improvement

When Jon Herstein first assessed the work that needed to be done in his role as a CCO, he developed a framework of six pillars to address some of the areas that needed improvement:

Focus on customer experience. Thinking through how are customers engaged and who is engaging them? Jon’s focus was to consider the personality of those who are hired (smile behind the resume) – ensuring that they have a service-oriented mindset. Jon wants employees to be empowered to fix a customer’s problem first then ask for permission later.

Leverage the voice of the customer. Jon wanted to figure out how to bring the perspective of customers back into the business to influence the way they build products, deliver services, and develop company strategies. It was important that he used customer insights to create meaningful work. 

Be customer-focused (centricity). It was important to Jon that everyone in the company thinks about customers, even those who don’t interact with them. He wanted to develop a strategy that engaged employees to always think about the customer and ways to help them succeed.

Develop customer relationships. Jon knew that in order to be successful with customer centricity, customer relationships need to be nurtured. He formed an advisory board with this focus in mind. 

Foster customer advocacy. Do you have a loyal fan base or community? If so, engage and reward them. Jon and his team built an army of advocates called, Box Stars. These Stars advocate on behalf of Box and have a mutually-beneficial relationship with the brand.

Cultivate thought leadership. Don’t be afraid to publicly share industry and organizational insights. Similar to Scott Allison and his desire to increase the visibility of DHL as an industry leader, Jon believes in the notion of publicly sharing more information about the company and some of the things they do.

Everyone in your company should think about customers, even those who don’t interact with them. —Jon Herstein, CCO @box Click To Tweet

As many of you may know, figuring out how to prioritize the work that you need to do with a role that holds such a large responsibility can seem overwhelming at first. Take the time to find your support system and break down big challenges into bite-sized portions to make it more manageable. Remember, don’t try to boil the ocean!

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